Navigon 2100 review

NOTE: Navigon has pulled out of the U.S. market and we are no longer recommending their receivers. Check out our auto GPS buyers guide for our current recommendations.

UPDATE: The new Navigon 2100 max updates the 2100 with a 4.3″ wide screen and the DirectHelp emergency screen.

The Navigon 2100 is Navigon’s entry level GPS device. Even so, it offers text-to-speech, so you’ll get “turn left on Oak Street” rather than just “turn left.” It also has the “reality view” feature for major highway interchanges, as shown above.

Beyond that, the unit is pretty basic — 3.5″ touch screen, SiRFstar III chipset, and maps of the lower 48 United States. The 2100T includes a traffic receiver. Amazon reports that the unit has only 1.3 million POIs, a very low number, but I have not been able to verify that.

Stepping up to the Navigon 5100 gets you more POIs, lane assist (suggesting which lane to be in), Zagat ratings and free lifetime traffic. The Navigon 7100, which I wasn’t very impressed with, adds Bluetooth too.

Comments

The POI’s seem to be the same as TomTom. I compared the two and the same showed up at various locations.
Overall I am impressed with the 2100T. Not perfect but good. The again I paid $99.99 w/ free traffic. Can’t beat that deal.
Pros: Nice screen, TTS, lifetime traffic, POIs, multi-route
Cons: smaller touch buttons, a bit slower than others

Navigon 2100 GPS Navigator
Just like most would agree that you shouldn’t buy a new model car or a redesign of an old model until its second year in production when the company has had a chance to get some of the kinks out, it’s pretty much accepted …

I own a Navigon 2100 sure is sleek and pretty. Too bad it’s dead! Navigon knows the units have issues and said they would give me a call if and when they figure it out. Could be weeks, months, who knows? Meanwhile I can’t even return it for a working unit or my money back. Unbelievable

I bought a 2100 and subsequently returned it. I found it not to be as good as reviews made me think. here is my ‘review’ of this device.
1.Design: The case and interface are very slick looking. The reality view is a great feature.
2.MAPS: Based on NAVTEQ map software, this unit seems somewhat up to date, but the maps aren’t as up to date as the Garmin Nuvi products. I suspect an older version of navteq was used in early development and not updated before released on this product.
3. Fonts: many of the fonts are too small. The speed is virtually unreadable. This important piece of information [My Speed] should be larger, since I often refer to it as a reference to the accuracy of my speedometer.
4. Routing. No matter what the tech says, routing is broken on this unit. whatever the problem, it results in incorrect routing over 50% of the routes I tried to calculate. I can provide specific routes that are incorrect. I did notice that other people mentioned that it tries to take you back to your original route, even if there’s a better one.
5. Missing Features: Auto day/night, auto off. Sufficient POIS.
That’s about it.
Finally, I would have kept my 2100 if it weren’t so bad at routing. I want to be very clear about this. I have been working with GPSRs for six years and talking to many users. I have worked with many different GPS Navigation units and the routing problem is REAL and it makes this unit virtually unusable.

I used the Navigon in Seattle, WA and tell you what the unit was great, saved me a lot of trouble trying to get around that big city, I did find that you have to trust the directions given and not try to second guess the route, I believe that this unit was money well spent.
John